The overprintable PureFX Soft Touch Varnish joins the inks and coatings’ manufacturer range of special effects products for narrow-web flexo presses, which includes PureFX Rough Texture and Scratch-Off.

It said that the coating was developed in response to market demand for a tactile coating to rival film and water-based coatings, highlighting that it had to overcome significant technical challenges to with the formulation “due to the nature of UV free radical curing”.

“When compared to UV curing products, water-based coatings can achieve a good soft touch effect but are generally less durable and can be harder to run consistently on press, whilst lamination films are costly and generate more waste,” explained technical manager Simon Windle.

“Our R&D team challenged themselves to come up with a high-performance UV soft touch varnish that could be a real alternative for companies currently using soft touch lamination films or water-based lacquers.”

The new coating has undergone beta testing at a number of undisclosed customer sites where, according to Pulse it demonstrated “excellent adhesion, overprintability, press stability, and chemical resistance properties”.

It’s suitable for substrates included coated PE and PP, aluminium foils and paper and is rated for non-direct food packaging applications. As well being suitable for flexo combination presses, it’s suitable for overprinting of digitally printed labels on embellishment presses.